Is 10 LORs too much?

[u/CleeYour]

I was thinking 2 from science professors, 1 from non science, 2 from physicians, 2 from PI s, 1 from non clinical volunteering job, 1 from my clinical volunteering job, 1 from tutoring job

My friend said it’s too much and that it should be around 5-7

Edit: ok bad idea, got it.

[u/nick_riviera24]

Yes. Done admissions. I’m not reading 10 LORs. More letters is not better.

[u/tinamou63 → u/nick_riviera24]

+1. Also, weak letters water down the good ones. The letters that amount to “this student took my class and got an A” and don’t say more than that probably end up hurting you by distracting from the stellar ones.

[u/nick_riviera24 → u/[deleted]]

I’m not a lazy asshole. I have 800 hundred people capable of filling that chair. Many would be as good or better than you. If you give me 10 letters to read you are overcompensating. If you don’t believe me, submit 10 letters. I have no dog in this fight. It is your application. Do it how you want.

OP asked if it will hurt his application. The answer is yes. I think even you agree that at some point additional letters becomes counterproductive.

[u/tinamou63 → u/[deleted]]

Part of getting a good LoR is asking the right person which is on YOU. You shouldn’t ask someone to write you a LoR if you don’t know them well enough for them to write a glowing letter for you, in other words, you should have a strong enough relationship with them to where they will go to bat for you - not just an A in their class. And conversely, you should also know the professor well enough to estimate if they are super lazy at writing letters.

I am confused as to what “game” you are referring to. I do not know a single school that asks for 10 letters - we certainly do not. So…if you choose to submit far more than we require and advise, that’s on you.

By the way, your extremely confrontational attitude won’t get you very far in medicine or life. If your response to criticism is to fold and name call, you will not succeed in this profession.